Aerial tramways



May 31, 1960 E. G. TIEGEL AERIAL TRAMWAYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 18, 1955 lNUE/VTJOR.

Emest Ganja Hegel By M 6' T TORNEY y 31, 1960 E. G. TIEGEL 2,938,472

AERIAL TRAMWAYS Filed April 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Emest [102013 0 Hegel EV law HTTORNEY United States Patent Ofi ice AERIAL TRAMWAYS Ernest George Tiegel, 1561 County Road, Redwood City, Calif.

Filed Apr. 18, 1955, Ser. No. 502,053

2 Claims. (Cl. 104-178) The present invention relates'to' improvements in aerial tramways, and has particular reference to a ski lift, although the principles involved apply to any apparatus in which'a cable is trained over a pair of spaced, horizontally disposed sheaves, and is made to carry a load around the sheave.

In a ski lift, the load, such as a passenger seat, usually is suspended from the cable by means of a vertical hanger, and one of the most limiting factors controlling the maximum speed of the cable is the fact that in passing around the sheave the'ha'nger is made to swing outward by centrifugal force, and keeps swinging back and forth, even after rounding the sheave.

Different attempts have been made to eliminate this outward swing and the most widely used one is to provide an outer guide rail around the sheave. While this prevents outward swing, the friction of the hanger against the fixed guide causes the bucket todrag behind, and

there is considerableback' and forth swing when the cable straightens out after leaving the sheave.

It has also been proposed to eliminate the swing by arranging a stop plate 'on'the sheave to overlie the hanger head, so 'astohold "the latter against upward tilt. In this instance, however, there again is considerable friction which is detrimental to the cable, the hanger head and the sheave, and does not stop the swinging movement altogether.

In the present invention, it is proposed to provide a simple solution for the problem of guiding the hanger around the sheave, which avoids all friction and binding while preventing outward play due to centrifugal force.

More particularly, it is proposed to provide guide means for the hanger which move with the hanger in its course around the sheave, one of the guide means being a ring which rotates with the sheave and engages the inner face of the hanger, and the other being an endless belt having a section trained over the ring, so as to engage the outer face of the hanger and to urge the latter upon the ring, both the ring and the belt moving at the same speed as the sheave, and the belt being driven by the ring.

It is further proposed to train the belt in such a way that it provides entry and exit approaches for the hanger to guide the latter toward and away from the ring, in combination with cooperating fixed approaches mounted opposite the belt approaches.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent as the specification continues, and the new and useful features of my invention will be fully defined in the claims forming part of this application.

The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming part of this application in which:

Figure 1 shows a vertical axial section through the terminal tower of a ski lift;

Figure 2, a horizontal section taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

2,938,472 Patented May 31, 1960 Figure'3, an enlarged detail view showing a hanger head and attendant structure. 3 r

While I have shown onlythe'preferred forin of my invention, it should be understood-that variouschanges ormodifications may be made within the scope of .the claims hereto attached, without departing from the :spirit of the invention. V

. Referring to the drawing in detail, Figure '1 .shows, somewhat schematically, a' :terminalstation, including a tower 1 having a sheave 2 revolvably mounted upon the top thereofithe sheave being rotated'by any suitable means, not shown.

A cable 3is guided aroundone-half of the sheave, the cable being endless, andiibeing trained around a second sheave of a second terminal disposed at a distance from the first terminal. Y

The cable-has a series of buckets-4 suspended there! from by means of rigidhangersS, and hanger heads indicated at 6. The hanger heads may be of conventional construction and each comprises a pair of brackets 7 clamped upon the cable, as by bolts 8, and projecting sidewise of the cable to form the'bearin'gs 9 for the upper end "of the hanger. 1

Each hanger is curved inwardly, as at 10, tobring the bucket 4'vertically underneath the rim of the sheave over which the cable travels.

As each hanger travels around the sheave, itsbucket develops a definite tendency to swing away from the axisof rotation, due to centrifugal force, .and his the object of the present inventionto' prevent such outward swing without cau'sing undue friction and binding action. For this purpose, I provide aring'll suspendedfrom the sheave 2 by means of brackets 12,- andrmade to rotate with the sheave. The .diameteriof'the ring 11 issuch thatthe circumference ofthe ring'naturally makes contact with the inner edge of a freely suspended hanger.

The ring thus serves as a natural guide for the hanger, rotating L-atthe: sameispe'ed :as the latter. Each hanger is held to the ring by means of a belt '1'3,-' which may be 'inth'e'formJOf a cable or rope, and

an intermediate section-:ofwhich,shown at 14, isguided around the Louter Ior driving face '15 :of' the ring.

The remainder of the belt is guided over four pulleys 16, 17, 18 and 19, the pulleys being arranged substantially in the four corners of a rectangle in such a manner that the pulley 16 feeds the belt to the driving face of the ring 11, while the driving face feeds to the pulley 19, which latter reverses the direction of the belt to pass over pulleys 18 and 17, back to pulley 16.

In this manner, the intermediate reversely curved por-' tion 14 of the belt is driven continuously by the driving face of the ring and bears on the outer face of the hanger 5, urging the latter upon the ring, and preventing the hanger from swinging outward.

Since the ring and the belt and the sheave all rotate at the same speed, there is no friction between the hanger and the ring, or between the hanger and the belt, and the hanger is made to move around the ring and the sheave smoothly, while maintaining its vertical position.

In the horizontal section shown in Figure 2, the general path of each hanger is indicated by the dash and dot line 21, and it will be noted that the stretch 22 of the belt between the pulley 16 and the ring 11 runs almost parallel to the travel of the hanger so as to smoothly engage over the outer face of the hanger as the latter approaches the active face of the ring.

A slightly curved fixed guide 23 may be provided opposite the belt approach 22 to guide the hanger into contact with the belt approach.

The same arrangement is shown at the exit of the hanger, where it is guided by the belt section 24 between the active face of the ring 11 and the pulley 19, and

. .3 1 gradually loses contact with the latter, a fixed guide 25 aiding in the transfer from circumferential to straight forward movement. L The operationof my inventionwill be readily understood from the foregoing description.

Refem'ng' particularly to Figure 2,'as the hanger 5 of theibucket '4 approaches the sheave along the path defined by the dot-and-dash line 21,. it is gradually engaged on theoutside by. the belt stretch 22, and on the inside, by the guide 23, which latter barely touches the hanger, but aids .in guiding the latter into the space between thebelt and the .ring 11.

. .Upon enteringthe said space, the hanger, causing a slight outward bend in the. belt, is guided by the latter and the ring, at its own natural speed, so as to pass around they ring without any-outward swinging movement and still without any frictional resistance to its forward movement. 7

After passing around the active portion of the ring, the hanger graduallyloses contact with the belt section 24 and follows its straight path toward the sheave at the opposite end.- It would, of course, be perfectly feasible, to substitute a belt'similar to the one described for the two fixed guides 23 .and 25, such belt being trained around the ring 11 and being. made to pass over pulleys corresponding substantially to pulleys. 16 and 19, so that the belt would move at the same circumferential speed as the belt 13, and would guide the inner .faces of the hangers.

Itis apparent that my invention applies generally to the drive station, as well as to the idler station in a ski lift, orysimilar tramway.

The present invention would also be useful in connection with an aerial tramway which has a bend in the line, since the U-shaped arrangement of the belt might be readily spread to conform to hanger travel approaching and departing at angles different from those indicated by the lines 241.

I claim:

1. In an aerial tramway, a horizontallymounted rotary sheave, an endless cable guided over a section thereof, a hanger suspended from the cable for movement around the sheave, and means for holding the hanger against outward swing due to centrifugal force when passing around the sheave, the said means comprising a ring suspended from the sheave for rotation therewith about a common axis and dimensioned for engagement by the inner face of the hanger, and a belt having a series of supporting rollers arranged so as to train a section of the belt over the ring on the outside of the hanger and to urge the hanger upon the ring, the rollers being mounted to provide belt stretches approaching the ring in substantially parallel relation to the path of hanger travel.

2. In an aerial tramway, a horizontally mounted rotary sheave, an endless cable guided over a section thereof, a hanger suspended from the cable for movement around the sheave, and means for holding the hanger against outward swing due to centrifugal force when passing around the sheave, the said means comprising a ring suspended from the sheave for rotation therewith about a common axis and dimensioned for engagement by the inner face of the hanger, and a belt having a series of supporting rollers arranged in a rectangle enclosing said ring and in the plane thereof so as to train a section of the belt over the ring on the outside of the hanger and to urge the hanger upon the ring, two of said rollers being positioned with their peripheries substantially tangent, to the path of saidhanger as it, approaches'and retreats from said sheaves so as to provide belt stretches in substantially parallel relation to the path of hanger travel, and fixed guides at the ring side of said belt stretches for guiding said hangers along a path tangent to said ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

